There’s a reason that you always hear that content is king. It’s arguably the single most valuable tool for delivering your brand message and gaining visibility in an increasingly crowded digital universe. This significance is why when businesses focus in on SEO, content is one of the first areas they invest their resources. Some campaigns are rewarded with great results while others not so much. What makes the difference between content that’s a stellar performer and content that flatlines? Chances are it’s related to not understanding how content and SEO have changed in 2018.
Updating Your SEO Strategy
It wasn’t that long ago that Google’s Search Quality Senior Strategist declared that high-quality content and link building were the two most essential signals for priority ranking in search results. This metric hasn’t changed, but the way content affects SEO has.
How do businesses today make sure that content maintains its reign as king of their search engine marketing? Here’s what you need to know about crafting the perfect content to aid your SEO campaign.
Google Isn’t Your Audience
Back a decade or so ago, creating content optimized for SEO was all about keywords. The goal was to fill your content with the keywords that made Google stand up and take notice regardless of the reaction from your audience. The point was to gain visibility and keywords provided the tools to do it.
Fast forward to today and keywords are still relevant, but what matters, even more, is creating content that your audience finds irresistible. It’s time to stop producing content for search engines and start building it for the audience that truly matters.
Just look at the potentially far-reaching effects of audience-centered content. First, search engines have evolved to the point that they can pick up on context and are no longer reliant entirely on keywords. When a user enters a query, the search engine looks for content that matches their need, not just the phrase they entered. If you’ve created content that fills that need, not only
Create Content with Purpose
In a way, this circles back to the first point, but content needs a purpose. This requirement means that to create compelling content you need to understand your audience and what they desire. What are their questions and pain points? What lights a fire under them and gets them motivated? Know your audience, pick a topic and go deep with it.
For example, a piece of content that addresses a need that’s very specific to your geographical location can be great for local SEO, especially if contains relevant long tail keywords.
SEO Requires Frequency and Longevity
Frequency is a big deal when it comes to optimizing SEO. You want to produce content regularly enough that you keep your audience interested, especially if you’re sharing on social media. However, you don’t want to rush and produce watered down content that lacks value just for the sake of getting it out there. There’s a sweet spot for your business, and you need to find it.
Secondly, it can take months for a piece of content to gain enough traction to earn priority ranking, so try to keep this in mind when creating it. Go for quality evergreen pieces that can withstand a little waiting period before they elevate you to the top.
Consult an SEO Company
Is your content designed with optimal SEM in mind? We have the SEO services that can launch your brand into the future. Schedule a meeting with our experts today to discover how great content can impact your SEO Campaign.
